Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lena Sidhu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lena, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

At the present moment, I manage all social media for Lena Kaur Designs. I come from a background in online marketing and while I work full time in channels other than social, I was excited by the idea of getting to work on social for my jewelry shop.

It has definitely been a learning experience in terms of best practices like when to post, what tags to use alongside posts, and what products folks take a liking to most.

Lena, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into crafting earrings through my own struggles with jewelry.

I first tried to get my ears pierced in my early 20s and the piercings did not take well (infection and one tore through much of the way). To top this off, I had always been allergic to many pieces of jewelry I bought at the store or online.

Before getting my ears pierced in my 20s, I would wear clip on earrings that I would fashion by just removing the hooks from existing earrings and replacing them with clip on hooks using some simple tools.

Once my piercings didn’t end up working out, I decided to get more personalized and creative with my clip on earrings. Over time, I started creating my own clip on earrings with gemstones and other materials. Over the course of a few years, I started handcrafting earrings using hooks and wires and beads, etc.

I started getting complimented on my earrings and asked where I got them. Eventually, in January of 2022, I finally was in a place where I had the ability to start a side business and I remembered all the times folks had asked where they could get my earrings. And that’s when I decided to start Lena Kaur Designs.

I use nickel free hooks in the shop since nickel can cause irritating reactions for many people. I also offer clip on earrings conversions for most pairs of earrings in my shop.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

While LinkedIn and existing business connections has been a solid source for new clients, I recently discovered that in person stalls/pop ups shops might be the best source of new clients for my specific type of Jewelry Shop.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I sell on my own website. I used Square to make it. That was definitely a cool learning experience that also built my confidence.

I started out using Etsy and just found that the site was not conducive to how I was looking to sell. With my own site, I am able to customize different pages fully that I would like to share with customers, along with different forms and checkout/packaging options. I like how much more custom it can be.

Contact Info:

• Website: lenakaurdesigns.com
• Instagram: @lenakaurdesigns